Business

Steve Jobs' Widow Invests in Former MSNBC Anchor's Media Site

Laurene Powell Jobs generally stayed out of the spotlight while her husband Steve Jobs ran Apple, but since his passing, she has emerged occasionally to promote immigration reform and the passage of the DREAM Act.

Now, word comes from Fortune (the full story is behind a paywall) that Jobs has invested in a media startup called Ozy Media, which is set to launch invitation-only next month. She will be one of three board members at the company and perhaps even contribute content.

Jobs isn't the only notable one backing the company — Google's chief legal officer David Drummond and angel investor Ron Conway are also involved. But Jobs' involvement certainly lends the startup that much more prestige.

Ozy Media was founded by Carlos Watson, a former MSNBC anchor who took a job at Goldman Sachs after his show was cancelled. Watson tells Fortune that the new site will curate a select few stories each day and cater to the "change generation," which he describes as "a group that won’t just tolerate things that are different but embrace things that are different.”

Watson has made a similar pitch before. In mid-2009, Watson launched The Stimulist, a news site that published and curated positive and inspiring stories for readers. And not just any readers: In interviews at the time, he said the website specifically catered to — you guessed it — "the change generation."

As it so happens, I interned at The Stimulist for several months, though I never interacted with Watson directly. Each day, the website published six original stories, including one profile of a new face that people should know, one idea to spark a conversation and one blog post from Watson.

Watson received funding for the The Stimulist from Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners and used his position as a television anchor to draw attention to the website. The Stimulist frequently ran articles picked up by major news outlets like The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post — no small feat for a new website — but Watson struggled to balance the website with his up-and-coming television career and ultimately shut it down later that year.

Though Ozy Media isn't live yet, Fortune's descriptions suggest that it will borrow some aspects from The Stimulist, including focusing on publishing just a few short stories each day and emphasizing the images on the page. Several of the website's sections sound nearly identical to his previous media property as well: There will be profiles of up-and-comers, historical flashbacks and even a section called "Good Sh*t," which also ran on The Stimulist.

The biggest difference appears to be Watson's larger team of journalists to work on Ozy Media and his plans to focus more on holding live events tied to the website.

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